THIS WEEKEND Miramax's
Sin City hit the jackpot powering its
way to number one at the North American box office while fellow freshman,
the Queen Latifah comedy Beauty Shop,
debuted in second place with a respectable showing. With no new competition
for family audiences, kidpics displayed some of the smallest declines in
the top ten. Overall, however, the marketplace remained down versus year-ago
levels.

Opening with a bang in the top spot was the ultra-stylish crime noir
Sin City which launched with $29.1M,
according to final studio figures,
marking the third largest April debut ever and the strongest for an R-rated
film in the month. Directed by Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller, the thriller
opened in 3,230 theaters and averaged a sizzling $9,016 per site giving
Miramax its first number one debut since last August's Hero.
Sin City, a big-screen adaptation of
Miller's graphic novel series, used live actors with computer-generated
sets to deliver a new look and feel in movies and powered well ahead of
the $15.6M opening of last September's PG-rated Sky
Captain and the World of Tomorrow which used similar filmmaking
techniques.

Reviews were generally positive for Sin City
which brought together a potent ensemble cast including Bruce
Willis, Jessica Alba, Mickey Rourke, Benicio Del Toro, Clive Owen, and
Elijah Wood. With comedies, horror films, and family pics dominating the
box office this year, the action audience which was underserved came out
in big numbers for a film that promised something new and exciting. With
Rodriguez claiming a piece of the number one spot, the Texas-based filmmaker
joins a growing list of multicultural directors to hit the top spot in
North America this year following Kevin Rodney Sullivan (Guess
Who), Hideo Nakata (The Ring Two),
Carlos Saldanha (co-director of Robots),
Darren Grant (Diary of a Mad Black Woman),
and Thomas Carter (Coach Carter).

Opening in second place was the Queen Latifah comedy Beauty
Shop which bowed to $12.8M with a five-day take of $16.6M since
its Wednesday debut. Over three days, the PG-13 pic averaged a good $4,814
from 2,659 locations. A spinoff from Ice Cube's successful Barbershop
franchise, Beauty Shop finds
Latifah's character Gina, who was introduced to audiences a year ago in
Barbershop 2, starting her own salon
in Atlanta complete with a colorful cast of employees and customers. MGM's
new female-skewing film did not measure up to the openings of Cube's pair
of hits - Barbershop launched with
$20.6M and a $12,852 average in September 2002 while its sequel bowed to
$24.2M and a $8,942 average in February 2004. Reviews were mixed for the
Bille Woodruff-directed entry which also did not reach the $21.9M bow and
$14,771 average of Diary which played
to a similar audience this past February. Instead, Beauty
Shop's debut was close to the $17.1M four-day start of last
weekend's female-oriented franchise comedy Miss
Congeniality 2.

The grosses for this weekend's two new releases further underscore the
public's demand for new ideas as opposed to sequels this year. Sin
City joins the year's top films like Hitch,
Robots, and The
Pacifier as fresh material pulling in moviegoers. Meanwhile,
Beauty Shop joins franchise flicks
like Be Cool, Miss
Congeniality 2, Son of the Mask,
The Ring Two, and Elektra
as recycled pics that will not come close to the box office levels of their
predecessors.

Sony's hit comedy Guess Who dropped
two spots to third but enjoyed a good hold grossing $12.7M, off 39%. After
ten days, the Bernie Mac-Ashton Kutcher film has taken in $41M and looks
headed for $70-75M.

Fox's animated comedy Robots became
the second film of 2005 to join the century club with a strong weekend
gross of $9.8M, off only 24%, boosting the cume to $104.4M. The mechanical
tale joined Will Smith's Hitch in the
$100M circle.

Sandra Bullock's comedy sequel Miss Congeniality
2 enjoyed a respectable sophomore frame sliding 42% to $8.1M.
With $31.1M in 11 days, the Warner Bros. title seems set to reach $50-55M
or about half of the $106.8M of 2000's Miss Congeniality.

The Disney kidpic The Pacifier took
advantage of the lack of new family competition and eased just 28% to $5.8M
putting the total at $96.1M. Dropping 58% in its third weekend was the
DreamWorks fright flick The Ring Two
which grossed $5.7M with a cume of $68M.

New Line went national with its Joan Allen-Kevin Costner drama The
Upside of Anger and saw mediocre results jumping into the top
ten at number eight with $4M. Expanding from 167 to 1,111 theaters, the
R-rated film averaged a respectable $3,623 and raised its sum to $8.6M.

The Sony date doctor Hitch took
in $2.9M, down 32%, boosting its tally to $171.3M domestically while its
worldwide cume surged past $300M. Rounding out the top ten with $2.7M was
Disney's Ice Princess which held up
very well dipping 26%. Total stands at $18.8M.

Three films dropped out of the top ten over the weekend. With Bruce
Willis leading the charts with Sin City,
his other recent action film Hostage
fell 44% to $2.3M putting the cume at $30.3M. The Miramax release should
conclude with about $35M. After spending nine weeks in the top ten, Oscar
champ Million Dollar Baby slipped 43%
to $1.5M for a $96.7M sum. Look for a $102M final. The John Travolta caper
pic Be Cool collected $1M, down 63%,
putting the cume at $54.5M. MGM's all-star sequel should end with $57M
with no chance of reaching the $72M of 1995's Get
Shorty.

The top ten films grossed $93.8M which was down 13% from last year when
Hellboy opened at number one with $23.2M;
but up 21% from 2003 when Phone Booth
debuted in the top spot with $15M.

Compared to projections, Sin City
powered ahead of my $23M forecast while Beauty
Shop came in a few notches below my five-day prediction of $20M.
The Upside of Anger was close to my
$3M projection.

Take this week's NEW Reader
Survey on the Ring franchise. In
last week's survey, readers were asked whether Sin
City would open with more or less than $20M. Of 1,624 responses,
83% correctly guessed More while 17% said Less.

This column is updated three times each week:
Thursday
(upcoming weekend's summary), Sunday
(post-weekend analysis with estimates), and Monday
night (actuals). Data source: Exhibitor
Relations, EDI. Opinions expressed
in this column are those solely of the author.